Doru-Claudian Frunzulică (S&D).– Madam President, to strengthen the position of producer organisations (POs) in the supply chain by creating incentives for mergers, associations and transnational cooperation is a very important action that we must support. Producer organisations have become essential for European cultural policy and should be encouraged to develop at all levels, especially in Member States where the number of organisations is still low. I believe that POs could be effective tools to combat unfair trading practices in the food chain, ensuring better remuneration for growers.

The fruit and vegetable sector has been severely hit by the Russian ban on EU exports, and this will continue next year, as Russia will extend the ban to 2016. I believe that the EU should continue all the support measures for this sector until the normal market situation is fully re-established, but the European Union should also continue to impose sanctions against Russia.

Jonathan Arnott (EFDD).– Madam President, I will not dwell on the common agricultural policy in general, beyond the simple point that, as a UKIP MEP, naturally I believe these matters could be dealt with better by the Member States themselves. I will, however, mention three points specifically from the report.

Firstly, I commend the rapporteur for saying that simpler is best. The simpler a system is, the easier it is for farmers. Secondly, I agree with the rapporteur that there is a crisis in farming. I have seen this personally over the last couple of weeks, speaking to young people and seeing the attitudes towards farming and the number of people who are not getting involved in farming. It is a massive problem.

Thirdly, the report mentions children not eating enough fruit and vegetables. I would suggest that governments should be doing more in that respect. There is, though, a danger of too much of a top-down approach. We have seen that where schools start policing what is put in children’s lunchboxes, this can cause hostility and become counterproductive. So, in keeping with the theme of this debate, I would suggest that the approach we need is carrot, not stick.

(Fin des interventions à la demande)

Phil Hogan,Member of the Commission.– Madam President, I wish to thank Mr Melo for his report. It certainly offers me an opportunity to briefly address some of the issues that have been raised in relation to fruit and vegetables here.

The Russian import ban has been mentioned by a number of speakers in respect of European fruit and vegetables. It once again highlights the vulnerability of the sector, where surpluses of perishable products can cause large market disturbances and falling producer prices. I am examining this issue at the moment to see what can be done to assist producers.

It also shows the importance of strong producer organisations to collectively deal with such unexpected and adverse situations. The current CMO regulation offers the tools for strengthening their bargaining position vis-à-vis major retailers, as well as through production planning, innovation, and crisis prevention and management measures.

Therefore I welcome Mr Melo’s report as a contribution to the debate on how producer organisations can be strengthened even further to become even more efficient and also more attractive to both current and future members.

The EU fruit and vegetable regime is certainly on the Commission’s political agenda. President Juncker has asked me to focus on reviewing this potential for further simplification within the first 12 months of our mandate. This meets one of the main requests of this report, which is to increase the attractiveness of producer organisations by increasing legal certainty and reducing the administrative burden.

Throughout this year the Commission will carry out a simplification exercise regarding the fruit and vegetable rules that are contained in the Commission-level legislation. This will improve the functioning of the scheme and provide a clearer legal framework. However, we foresee no changes to the basic act this year. Producer organisations and their operational programmes thus remain a cornerstone of the regime. The issue of an increase in the overall level of support to producer organisations and to APOs, which requires a change in the basic act, will not be addressed as part of this simplification exercise, where we are concentrating on secondary legislation.

Unfair trading practices in the food supply chain are also on our agenda, as you know. For abuses of relative bargaining power, or unfair trading practices as they are known, there is currently no regulatory framework at EU level, but a large number of Member States have now begun to regulate the issue at national level, particularly in the United Kingdom and Spain. I will continue to work with Ms Bieńkowska, who is the Commissioner for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs and the lead Commissioner on this issue, in order to address issues that have been brought to the attention of this House tonight, and on other occasions, relating to unfair trading practices.

The Commission has asked the food chain to agree on a self-regulatory mechanism at EU level for the moment. All food chain representatives agreed on a list of principles of good practice in contractual relations as far back as 2011. Furthermore, key stakeholders have been implementing an EU-wide voluntary scheme, the Supply Chain Initiative, since the end of 2013, but regrettably not all actors in the food chain are participating at the moment.

The Commission will make an assessment of existing national and EU work streams and unfair practices at the end of this year and come to conclusions about where to go from there. Let me welcome again the European Parliament’s initiative and Mr Melo’s report, which will of course further enrich the ongoing debate regarding the reform that is required in the fruit and vegetables regime.